Matthew Perkins has spent his career at the sharp end of fintech - from helping launch Klarna in the UK to now leading product at IG, one of Britain's most established trading platforms. Today, he's focused on one thing: making IG faster, broader, and more accessible - without losing the trust that comes with being a FTSE 100 company. We sat down with him to talk about crypto, commission-free trading, and what it really takes to modernise a financial institution.
You've worked at two very different fintech companies — Klarna, a hypergrowth startup, and IG, a decades-old trading institution. What's the biggest mindset shift moving between those two worlds?
From the outside, people might expect Klarna and IG to be very different environments. But honestly, when I look at where IG is today from a product perspective, I see more similarities than differences.
In many ways, IG today reminds me of Klarna in its heyday. What made Klarna such an exciting place to build products was the combination of customer obsession, ambitious thinking and the ability to turn ideas into reality at pace. That's exactly what I see at IG.
The recent product launches are really only the tip of the iceberg. Internally, there's a huge amount happening across the product organisation, and over the next few months people will start to see much more of that externally. The pace of innovation and the focus on client experience are stronger than many people probably expect.
The biggest mindset shift for me has actually been a linguistic one. At Klarna, we talked about "users". At IG, we talk about "clients". This is important because many of our clients are trusting us with long-term investments and significant financial decisions. It's a deeper relationship and a bigger responsibility.
For someone who's never used IG before, how would you describe what it offers today — and how is that different from what it was just a few years ago?
IG's heritage is spread betting - it was invented here - and for many people in the industry, that's still what IG is best known for, but that's no longer the full picture.
Today, spread betting and CFDs are just two parts of a much broader investment platform. In recent years we've expanded into share dealing, investing and crypto, and many of our newer clients actually come to us through those products rather than our traditional trading offering.
The way I think about it is that IG has evolved from being known for a specific product category to becoming a platform that helps clients access a much wider range of financial opportunities. That's reflected in the clients we're attracting today and the products we're continuing to build.
IG has recently launched zero-commission trading on Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana. Why these three, and why now?
These are the most established, most liquid and most recognised crypto assets. For us, that matters because we're not trying to out-Binance Binance. That's not the game we're playing.
Our goal is to make crypto accessible through a trusted investment platform. We want to be the place where someone who already invests in shares, ETFs or funds feels comfortable making crypto part of their portfolio.
The timing is important too, as Crypto is maturing as an asset class, regulation is becoming clearer, and clients increasingly want access through firms they already trust. Being able to offer that within an FCA-regulated environment is a genuine differentiator.
"Removing commission" sounds simple, but there's clearly a lot happening behind the scenes. What does it actually take to make something like that possible inside a regulated platform?
Removing commission sounds simple, but in reality, it's one of the most consequential decisions a platform can make. There's technology behind it, commercial modelling behind it, compliance scrutiny behind it and a huge amount of work with partners to make sure the economics are sustainable.
The reason you have to think carefully is because once commission goes to zero on a financial product, it’s very unlikely that it’ll ever come back again. Clients quickly treat that as the new normal, so you have to be confident you're building something that works for the long term rather than creating a short-term marketing moment.
IG already offers commission-free investing in stocks, ETFs and funds. Is the goal to eventually make everything on the platform zero-commission — or is that too simplistic a view?
The goal is transparent, fair and competitive pricing so customers see exactly what they're paying for and that they are getting good value.
Crypto still carries a reputation for being risky or complicated. How do you design a product experience that welcomes a first-time crypto buyer without talking down to an experienced trader?
Our crypto product is designed so that beginners can take their first steps with confidence, while still offering the depth that more experienced traders expect, whether that's limit orders, swaps, transfers or access to a wider range of coins.
As I've mentioned before, we're not expecting hardcore crypto bros or meme-coin speculators to become our biggest users. That's not who we're building for - but they are more than welcome. We're focused on investors who want crypto to sit alongside the rest of their portfolio within a trusted, regulated environment.
The reality is that there are clear limitations in the UK when it comes to crypto derivatives and leverage for retail clients. We do offer leveraged crypto products to eligible Pro clients, but there are also offshore platforms that continue to offer products and services to UK consumers that regulated firms simply can't.
That's a conscious choice for us and we'd rather build a product that makes crypto accessible to a broader audience than compete in a race to offer the highest leverage or the most speculative assets.
You're known for focusing on pace — shipping faster, for more types of customers. In a heavily regulated environment like financial services, how do you actually move quickly without cutting corners?
People often assume regulation is what slows companies down, but in my experience, that's not true. The companies that struggle are the ones that treat compliance as a hurdle to clear at the end of the process. Whereas the companies that move fastest make compliance part of the product team from day one.
When compliance, financial crime, legal and product teams are working together from the outset, you build the right thing the first time. Rework is what slows organisations down, not particularly regulation itself.
What's a product decision you've made at IG that you're most proud of — and is there anything you'd go back and do differently?
This one is tricky because the combined output of the product decision I’ve been most proud of is not yet visible to the outside world. Come back to me in a few months’ time and I’ll be able to share.
As for what I'd do differently, I'd have been less willing to accept the conventional wisdom of crypto "experts" when I first entered the space. If anything, it strengthened my belief that products should be designed for real investors, not industry insiders.
What does the next chapter of IG's product journey look like? Where is the platform headed?
I can’t reveal too much at this point but you can see that the winners in this space will be those who give their customers access to a broad range of relevant financial products via a single modern user experience, build up, and don’t break, the trust of those customers and give them the tools to help them achieve their financial goals in life.
Outside of work — what keeps you grounded, and is there anything in your personal life that quietly influences how you think about building products?
I keep my professional and personal life quite separate, so if I'm talking to friends and family about a product I'm building, it's because I'm genuinely proud of it and I can see how it could be valuable to them.
At Klarna, we used to joke about "the mum test". It was one of the first times in my career that my mum fully understood what I did for a living and why the product mattered. If you can explain a product simply enough that your mum gets it, and can see the value in it, that's usually a pretty good sign.
I find myself thinking about that a lot at IG. I already have friends who trade, actively manage their SIPP or have experimented with crypto using our products and giving me feedback. As we continue to launch new products and capabilities, that circle will get wider.
Klarna passed the mum test, I'm now looking forward to seeing if IG can pass it too.
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